Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Economy Car Watch

Washington Post writer Neil Irwin hasn't been following Global Review very closely. Neither does he know much economics. If he did, he'd know that the economy is not a car!

Irwin's big front-page article regurgitates the nauseating metaphor:
While the government has successfully jump-started the U.S. economy, there are emerging signs that its engine still isn't running very well, and may even sputter out.
He accepts as fact the silly notion that the government can manage the economy like a car owner, unsubtly settling the debate over the role of fiscal policy for his readers. Do yourself a favor and take a drive outside in your own economy car instead of wasting time on Irwin's voodoo economics.

6 comments:

Tim Vail said...

Hahaha, nice Salim :-) However, there is no denying that the government can impact the direction of the economy. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how they can ever make a positive impact except by leaving well enough alone the vast majority of the time! Ever since March, the stock market has been going up because of central governments pumping money into the system. Which is...hmm...scary since it doesn't solve the problem, only pushes the problem further into the future. What is gonna happen when it comes time to mark the economy to market?

Macro Guy said...

Right. We had a crash after a bubble... so the government thinks "Oh my gosh, let's pump that bubble back up ASAP!"

BPF said...

in history we were talking about the bubble before the french rev, and the teacher mentioned Louis XV's quote: "apres moi, le deluge" = after me the flood. then the teacher explained by comparing it to obama saying "I'm going to make things seem nice now, but in 3 or 7 years when i leave they will fall apart again." everyone in the class burst into laughter. i was very sorely tempted to point out that that is exactly what obama seems to be doing

Macro Guy said...

That's the problem with elected leaders. They're always willing to trade off the long-term if it will make people cheerier in the short-term, and help get them re-elected.

BPF said...

thats the problem with brookline. they're all so anxious to be "tolerant" liberals that they blind themselves of all other points of view. i read the college essay of a kid who graduated last year from brookline, that said in his freshman history class the teacher was explaining why free trade is "bad," when he realized he supported free trade, etc. when he talked to the teacher after class, he got "its OK, we'll have time to fix you" as a response

Macro Guy said...

Haha. What a tolerant teacher!